Jazeera Airways to Open Link to Iraq

Independent Kuwaiti carrier Jazeera Airways has announced plans to launch scheduled flights between Kuwait City and Najaf within the next six months after a long running dispute between the two countries was ended and talks over a new bilateral agreement took place. The low-cost carrier says it has secured traffic rights to fly to Najaf, located around 180km south of Baghdad, and which is widely considered the third holiest city of Shi'a Islam.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries has been strained since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Kuwait has claimed that that its national carrier, Kuwait Airways, was owed around $1.2 billion for the aircraft and parts that Iraq ‘stole’ following the invasion and Iraq has up until recently denied any liability. However, in the past week Iraqi government officials have reportedly agreed to pay $300 million to the Kuwaiti government and invest $200 million in an Iraqi-Kuwaiti company to settle the claim.

Under the terms of the new bilateral agreement Kuwaiti airlines will now be given access to a number of destinations in Iraq, including Baghdad, Erbil and Mosul. Jazeera Airways is currently the only airline to go public with its plans to serve the Iraqi market.

According to the latest schedules for next month, there are eleven flights per week planned between Kuwait and Iraq, all on the Kuwait City – Baghdad route. Gryphon Airlines offers five flights per week using a Douglas DC-9, Al-Naser Airlines operates four weekly flights using a Boeing 737 and Iraqi Airways provides two rotations a week using a Bombardier CRJ900. In the past year an estimated 3,500 O&D passengers travelled between the two countries with around 41.0 per cent of these flying between the two capital cities.

Looking back historically, the OAG Schedules iNet database shows that Gryphon Airlines is the sole carrier to provide scheduled air services between Kuwait and Al Najaf since the beginning of the 1980s. The US-owned and South African-headquartered venture provides scheduled and charter services in Afghanistan and Iraq, with key links to Dubai and Kuwait from each of the countries. It served the Kuwait City – Al Najaf route on a weekly basis from November 2009 until June 2010.